The St. Thomas Aquinas College men's basketball team completed a weekend sweep, defeating the hosts by an 82-72 margin at the Dominican College Tournament. Justin Reyes led all scorers with 28 and added 10 boards as the Spartans improved to 4-1 on the season, while dropping Dominican to 1-4.

STAC entered off Friday night's 93-86 victory over Goldey-Beacom College, while Dominican had suffered an 81-66 setback at the hands of Dowling College. A Reyes hoop and a Chaz Watler three gave the Spartans a quick 5-0 lead, but Dominican would battle back and led, 17-15, on the strength of a Sayon Charles jumper with 13:49 left. Both teams proceeded to go scoreless for nearly three minutes, but it was the visitors who awoke first, in a big way.

Reyes tied the game with a lay-up at 11:06 and Aaron Cust followed suit with a steal and a bucket to put STAC back on top. That would prove to be the impetus for a 16-2 run over the span of just under eight minutes, giving the Spartans a 31-19 lead with 6:15 to play in the half. Lawton ran off six straight points and the lead would hit as high as 15 before the half ended at 43-30.

After scoring 13 first-half points, Reyes picked up where he left off, scoring his team's first six after the break, leading to a 49-34 gap. The Chargers would live up to their nickname, however, as Sean O'Reilly hit a trio of treys as part of a stunning 11-0 run over the span of 1:20, and the hosts were back within four at 49-45.

Once again, the Spartans would answer, with Reyes and Jules deCourtenay setting STAC on an 8-2 spurt, opening the margin to 57-47 with 13:27 to play. The lead was never less than eight the rest of the way as the Spartans carried out their third win in four nights.

Watler added 16 points and Shaq McFarlan recorded 12 as the Spartans shot a sparkling 53% from the field (31-for-58). Sean O'Reilly led four Chargers in double-figures with 17 points but it was not enough as Dominican suffered back-to-back losses in its weekend tournament.

The Spartans will now enjoy a week off before traveling to face Stonehill College in a 3:00 pm start next Sunday, November 29. They will then start their East Coast Conference schedule in memorable fashion, meeting New York Institute of Technology at Brooklyn's Barclay's Center on Tuesday, December 1, with tip set for 1:30 pm.

- Steve Balsan, St. Thomas Aquinas Sports Information